Introduction
In our project proposal me and Lynnesha wanted to achieve making a game/environment at a reasonable quality that makes the player feel small by using skills and techniques that I have developed and apply it to this game. In the early stages we got inspiration from Jack and the beanstalk, A Bugs Life, Ratatouille a level in Kingdom hearts 3, and Alice in Wonderland as we started production our idea started to form and as we began to make an environment it started to shift to a more medieval era kitchen so our finished project ended up most like the Jack and the beanstalk concept.
Role and activities
Before we started the project me and Lynnesha planned what we will be doing, Lynnesha created the Interior in Unreal engine, went out and took pictures and used them as textures instead of getting them of the internet and UVW unwrapped the models once I was done with making them. I used 3ds max to create all the models that was placed in the interior and when I finished making the models I began helping Lynnesha unwrap the models to speed up the process so we could finish as much as we could. We then started arranging the models around the room to form a medieval kitchen.
The good
I believe our plan went well, we both did finish most of what we said we were going to do, the models that I created came together well in the environment, it looked even better once Lynnesha textured them, the texture formed most of the atmosphere. Whilst making the game Lynnesha helped me understand UVW mapping better which allowed me to help with the UVW unwrapping which in turn allowed us to work faster to give us the time necessary to finish of most of our game. I also think the scale of the environment went well and looks appropriately sized which was essential since that scale is the main purpose of the game and the lighting made the environment look really good and realistic.
Changes
Changers have been a big thing in our project before we started the project it was going to take place in a modern setting but then we changed it to a medieval setting in this medieval environment we were going to have rats and ants that would have damage you if you touched them and they would also move around we decided not to do this because of time and quite a few models did not make it into the game such as a sword, crafting table and a bed and the game was going to be third person but changed it to first person because it is more immersive and you feel like you have more control. We also didn’t have an ending when the player died but at the end of production we changed it and now when the player died the camera would switch focus to a candle with texted that would say “Ye hath deceased”.
The bad
What I believe went badly was that our project didn’t have as much game mechanics as we wanted because of time. Some of the ideas we thought off wasn’t used or implemented in the game and another thing missing was some sound such as footsteps we were going to put footsteps in but the sound wasn’t in good quality and would not be recognizable so we decided to not put it in and just focus on finishing the environment.
Progress
Before we started the project me and Lynnesha planned what we were going to do, we made a schedule that would help us keep track of what we were going to do. We did partially follow it but we did lose track near the end and didn’t really use the schedule much throughout production because we knew what we needed to do at the start and by time we got to the end of production most of our project changed which would render most of our schedule useless towards the end.
Wider influence
Our project was influenced by movies, stories and games such as Jack and the bean stalk, Kingdom hearts 3, Ratatouille movie and game and Alice in wonderland by Jan Svankmajer’s these helped us understand how scale was used in them and how we should apply it to our game and what objects we should use to help make our environment seem big objects such as chairs, tables and brooms. The look of our game would resemble Jack and the bean stalk more than any of the other cultural references which lead us to creating a medieval kitchen because of the uneven aspect of it and it would have less variety of models to where as a modern environment would consist of more perfect models and filled with too many models that it would take up too much time to make them.
Communication
Lynnesha and myself were working in a pair so in order to get this project finished we had to communicate, we also share assets with each other to get them in the game and get them textured we also helped each other if we weren’t sure on something, not only did we help each other but we asked for help from other students and our tutor in order to get things done.
Learning
When working in a group it is key communicate, so that you all know what each other are doing in order to get the project done in the best quality possible you have to talk about what you are doing, visually you have to know what the other is doing for example when I created my models Lynnesha would have to know what it looks like in order to texture it or to make sure she gets an appropriate texture so it can be textured.
Everyone also created a survey and shared it with each other on the game design Facebook group, this was done so that everyone got feedback on their projects so they know what went well with their game and what could have been added or improved to make their project better.
Here are some of the responses we got back for our project:
Conclusion
In conclusion I think we achieved what we wanted from our project which was to make the player feel small in a medieval kitchen where the quality of the texture and models are at a reasonable level, I do believe this is the best project I have made so far and one of my goals now that I have made this game is to make a better one by taking the feedback that I got from other students and apply it to a future project.
In future projects I will be looking to improve my 3D modelling skill and the new skills that I have picked up from this project such as UVW mapping. I want to focus on my modelling but I would like to also like to develop my skill of using blueprints to apply more game mechanics in my projects, animation and texturing.
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